A pledge of 5,000 hours of legal work on behalf of low-income children facing suspension from public schools and federal funding cuts for Head Start programs has been made by DLA Piper US for this Tuesday's launch of the firm's "New York Pro Bono Signature Project."

The project will partner as many as 150 DLA Piper lawyers with accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers, and staff members of the Lawyers Alliance for New York, Advocates for Children and Legal Services for New York for a coordinated approach to transactional counsel and direct representation.

"This is a significant commitment by our firm to provide the community with a dedicated, multidisciplinary program designed to prevent educational interruptions for low-income student," said Peter S. Pantaleo, managing partner of DLA Piper's New York office. "We are also working to protect and improve the infrastructure of Head Start programs and the preschool children they serve."

The project will provide both legal and accounting expertise for individual Head Start programs, as well as representation for public school children in disciplinary and special education proceedings before school officials and the city's Department of Education.

"Too often in the past, low-income children have been derailed by a lack of resources beginning as early as preschool," said Elizabeth Dewey, firmwide pro bono partner at DLA Piper. "This project gives us the opportunity to begin reversing that trend."